“Former San Jose State University football player Kariem McFarlin was sentenced this week to seven years in state prison for burglarizing several Bay Area homes, including one that belonged to the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs,” Jason Green reports for The Oakland Tribune.

“McFarlin, 35, pleaded no contest Nov. 21 to eight felony counts of residential burglary and one felony count of selling stolen property. The Alameda resident could have faced up to 16 years and four months, but Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett agreed to cap his maximum sentence at seven years and eight months in exchange for the plea,” Green reports. “McFarlin could end up serving just half of his seven-year sentence, said Deputy District Attorney Thomas Flattery. Every day he serves will count as two as long as his behavior is good.”

Kariem McFarlin’s mugshot“McFarlin’s burglary spree kicked off March 4, 2011, in Alameda and eventually spanned four Bay Area counties, according to prosecutors. He targeted residences in affluent neighborhoods that were undergoing construction or remodeling and appeared to be vacant,” Green reports. “Jobs’ home on the 2100 block of Waverley Street in Palo Alto was one such home. On the night of July 17, 2012, McFarlin crept into a garage, found a set of keys and looted the residence. Among the items he took were $60,000 worth of Tiffany & Co. jewelry, several Apple gadgets and the driver’s license of the CEO, who had died of cancer nine months earlier.”

Green reports, “Technology that Jobs helped create led to McFarlin’s capture. When he connected the stolen devices to the Internet with his iTunes account, Apple investigators were able to identify him using an IP address. Police collected additional evidence and arrested him at his Alameda apartment on Aug. 2.”

There exists massive injustice in the world with the scales heavily tipped favorably towards the most well-to-do. While punishment for robbery set out in this article is certainly warranted, the lack of prosecutions for what occurred (and still occurs) on Wall Street etc. ultimately sows the seeds for social unrest and sometimes revolution. Didn’t we learn anything from the French Revolution? History has a predictable way of repeating itself when the lessons are not learned.

Yeah, let’s blame (and hold responsible by convictions and incarceration) those on Wall St (and other such places), while allowing those with much greater culpability off the hook altogether by reelecting them to public office… over and over again.

Government corruption is far more dangerous and far more responsible for what has gone wrong with this country (and world) than the supposed greed of monied interests.

And if anyone thinks that getting rid of monied interests will end government corruption, I know a bridge you’ll want to buy.

You know why don’t you? “Money, money, monnnnney. MONEY!”, sing it baby! Politicians of both stripes wine and dine the bankers for their bigger contributions then either you or I could give to their bundlers. Thus, the overlooking part of Eric Holder’s Justice Department, in this case since it is the Democrats in power. Republicans, it would have been, whoever they would have in charge of Justice Dept. Sure both sides might have some lower hung fruit do the perp walk, but the game goes on.

I don’t want either stealing though a home crime is such a personal invasion, often involving families, it is worse. There was a break in years ago around here and the whole family was killed, 3 kids and parents and of course the teenager was raped by this piece of shit before she was killed.

Seven years seems to be harsh when you consider that many murderers get much less. In this case, putting this man in jail for that long has little chance of turning out a redeemed man but instead will likely turn out a well seasoned well trained criminal to prey on society. I don’t think that US jails benefit society because they don’t teach the inmates to adopt societal values but instead teach them to adopt better criminal methods and values.

Society is not benefitted by warehousing this man with seasoned criminals and then putting him back on the street to fleece us better. We need a rehabilitation system that pays for itself and benefits both the convict and society.

It’s really 3.5 years if he “behaves”. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

But that’s different from looking at murderers. Many murderers also get the death penalty, so there’s a certain logic fail in comparison. At issue here, with this one case, is whether 3.5 to 7 years makes sense. I think it does.

Additionally, there’s the issue of what happens in prison. I totally believe we need prison reform in a major way. Ideally, he should be released better equipped to handle functioning as a productive member of society, and that’s what our prisons need to become.

But that’s a separate issue. We can’t just say, “well, our prison system sucks so we’re going to just release you back on the streets”.

Sad part is the Death Penalty rarely means that. Instead they sit there through appeal after appeal for years, burning through our tax dollars. The percent that are actually put to death for extreme crimes is not as high as it should be. Gotta love those lawyers!

Seven years is not too much. Rather, the problem is that murderers don’t get life in prison or death. You are looking at it completely wrong. And while I agree with everyone that white-collar criminals should do time also, they’re not coming through your patio door with a gun. But when they do and it’s my house, they’re all going to be dead. Blue-collar or white-collar. Matters not. Crime doesn’t pay. At least not at my house.

Yes, he got his just deserts! Now if only Lance Armstrong copped an appropriate penalty! Off topic, I know, but…..!!
Crooks and cheats ( sometimes ) get caught!
How desperate can you get?
Hard for us in Australia to understand, but we have our share of crooks too.
On the matter of Samsung, It is just beyond my understanding that SS are selling so many crap phones!
Says something about the general populace! They are made of plastic…..did you all see the drop tests with the iPhone??
The SS just fell to bits……and, as far as I know, no Android apps are pre tested, unlike Apple. They stole the iPad, what’s next??

Wall street shysters steal millions EVERYDAY (except weekends and holidays) and no one can do anything. This guy steals an iDevice and everyone wants to string him up.

Martha Stewart gets hung out to dry on a profit of a couple of thousand. Black trader Raja Ratnam (you know who I mean) get it in the neck while admitted manipulator Crammer gets to teach his trade to others. Samdung gets away with blatant copying while Apples’ court wins gets delayed past “Justice denied”. NSA whistle blower who sacrifices his NSA executive job for IDEALS and a job at the Apple Store gets crucified by the government. This IS America.

“Steals an I device”? I guess you think it would have been okay if Lorene Jobs and children had been there when this asshole came calling? It might have been more than a simple burglary then. Could have turned very ugly. Idiot!

I love it when morons think jail is supposed to “redeem” a criminal. Idiot. Jail is “eye for an eye” punishment. I could care less if someone is rehabilitated. Jail and prison are punishment, just like the death penalty. Murderers get put to death as punishment, not to deter future murders.

It’s not a case of just one or the other. All the evidence from studies carried out over decades shows that rehabilitating inmates whilst they serve their punishment makes them less likely to reoffend than those that are only punished. It’s a complete no-brainer as far as I’m concerned. Try and educate them, teach them skills or give them therapy whilst they’re in there. Whatever is needed. It leads to less crime when they come out, so it’s worth it.